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iTrader: (2)

The car is 2004 GT if that helps at all, so here goes...

I installed all LED bulbs for my turn signals, brake/tail lights, and bought an LED 3rd brake light assembly, I have installed everything now, and am having a weird problem that I can not figure out and apparently I'm the only person to run into this, so here is the list of things I have done and what ended up happening.

First off, the blinkers work fine, I installed 2 10ohm 10watt resistors per light and they work flawlessly.

Now for the tail/brake lights, if I only have the two tail light bulbs in, it works fine, I have tail and brake lights but it gives me the TCS/ABS lights and that's no fun.

Next I installed the 3rd brake light and still had the TCS/ABS light and all of my tail/brake lights worked as intended.

Once I installed the resistors on the 3rd brake light wiring as everyone says that is the only one you need, my brake lights function correctly, and the TCS/ABS light is no longer present, but the bad part is that I have no tail lights anymore. Like none at all when the lights are on, I still have the little LED fin marker lights but no tail lights from the LED bulbs I installed.

I can't make any sense of any of this and my only idea has been to install resistors on the tail light circuit for the two lights but I haven't wanted to do that due to them being constantly on at night and I'm afraid heat will be an issue(not as bad with blinkers and brake lights since they are intermittent.) I also haven't even tried this yet because out of the 3 wires going into the back of the 7443 socket I have no clue which power would be the tail light power instead of the brake light power and I want to avoid cutting and reconnecting wires I don't have to.

Any help at all is appreciated, I'll try to be as detailed as possible when recounting any other info you might need.

PS: I reset the PCM/ECU to make sure the codes were going to stay gone and something residual wasn't at play, didn't help anything.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

we've seen LED bulbs cause issues with the TCS / ABS

exactly which brake lights bulbs did you use?

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iTrader: (2)

I know the TCS/ABS issue is common, that's why I put the resistors on the 3rd brake light, but the real issue now is the lack of tail lights.

And they were ordered from DDMTuning and the bulbs worked fine everywhere else on the car, I literally replaced every incandescent I had.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

check fuses?
have you taken the LED bulbs out and put the OEM's back in to see what happens?

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iTrader: (2)

I just checked all fuses again, and using the two OEM 7443's in the tail lights, they work perfectly, along with the LED assembly in the 3rd brake light.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

okay then by process of elimination it's something with your LED's

I would recommend posting / asking in this LED thread as plenty of them have switched their lights to LED's and not had issues.
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-exterior-appearance-body-kits-27/new-leds-wow-bright-158590/

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iTrader: (2)

Okay, I'll see if anyone over there can provide some insight, I just don't want to drop any more money on this conversion.

Thank you very much for your help.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

What resistor did you use with the LED brake light?

I just installed the eBay LED brake light to complement my v-leds 7443 LED tail/brake light bulbs, and used a wirewound resistor from Radio Shack: https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...90&postcount=6

Works perfectly.

If you used two resistors, try it with just one.

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iTrader: (2)

I am using 10ohm 10 watt wirewound resistors from RadioShack(bought them out of them the first time I installed stuff.) Looks the same as yours.

Why is there a separate green-wrapped set of wires going to the resistor and then another two going to the LED assembly? Did you just add a second circuit instead of tying into the wiring for the light?

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

I used wiretaps to connect the resistor parallel to the brake light wiring. Didn't want to cut into the heat shrink tubing of the factory brake light wires, so I tapped them close to the bulb connector.

Again, if you used two such resistors at the brake light, take one off. A single resistor is sufficient.

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iTrader: (2)

Just re-did it using only one resistor, still no tail lights, but still not triggering the TCS/ABS issue so no point in going back to two.

This really has me stumped, I would say bulbs but since they work fine without a 3rd light, I assume they should be working fine with it. My hunch is that there is some voltage range that the bulbs need and having the 3rd brake light and resistor puts it below that threshold.

Now the thing that I really don't understand is why the 3rd brake light is affecting the tail light circuit, and that makes sense, I just wasn't sure where you tagged the resistor in on the wiring, I am running mine in parallel but just cut the plastic shroud and did it in the existing wire with wiretaps.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Hm...
I tapped both brake light wires, connecting the leads going into the resistor. If yours is wired up the same way, then it must be the bulbs, as mine are different (well, from a different vendor so I presume they are not the same).
No idea why would this prevent even the tail lights from functioning since the resistor on the brake light should only have an effect if the brake pedal is depressed.

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iTrader: (2)

Attached is the way I have mine wired, very rough, was going to tape and all when I got things working.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

That's the same way how mine is connected.

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iTrader: (2)

Hmmm, this is really stumping me, normally it's just a matter of finding the one thing you missed, but this time it really seems like it's pointing to the bulbs, but I still don't get why there would be an issue only when the 3rd brake light is there...

I wish someone with some deeper knowledge of the wiring and how interconnected the two circuits are would chime in on this.

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iTrader: (2)

So does anyone know which wire is which going into the socket for the tail lights? I want to try putting a resistor on them and seeing it that fixes the issue, but I do not know which circuit is the correct one.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

I would definitely not put a resistor into the tail light circuit since that will constantly heat up when the tail lights are on. Those things get really hot. Or did you mean to wire it in so that it's under current only if the brake is applied? Not sure what will that accomplish and how is that different to the setup that doesn't work...
It sounds as if your LED bulbs would be sensitive to the actual current and amperage running through them... to be honest that doesn't make much sense, but who knows what's going on here...

Since your other LED bulbs are working OK when the third brake bulb is an incandescent one, perhaps you could measure the resistance of the stock bulb and use a different resistor that is more close to that value?

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iTrader: (2)

Incorrect, if I have an incandescent bulb in the 3rd brake light, I also do not have tail lights, although brake lights all around work, I tried putting the resistor across the tail light circuit, and the brake light circuit for my driver's side tail light, neither accomplished anything.

I then pulled the connector apart and individually ran power to the leads on the bulb to figure out if I could get the tail light to light that way, just blew a fuse. Replacing and trying more combinations now.

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iTrader: (2)

I fixed this issue, figured I would post my solution in case anyone else ran into this in the future.

What finally fixed it, put a 3amp 200volt diode on the brake light power wire(the black with yellow stripe.)

If you want more info on why this fixes it feel free to PM me.

Good luck!